Player Information Name: Froot. Age: Twenty-seven. Contact:frooting, frugivorous#0874. Other Characters: N/A.
Character Information Name: Jonas. Canon: Oxenfree. Canon Point: 6am, after Jonas listens to his mother's song recording and disappears. Age: Eighteen. History:Here.
Personality:
Jonas has been through a lot for the average teenager, as his life's been in a constant state of negative change; however, he's managed to take most of it gracefully on the chin, retaining a realistic amount of his good humour and nature. He's genuinely decent to all, yet indulges himself in a healthy amount of skepticism that's become a necessary defence mechanismβespecially when it comes to meeting new people, since he's grown distrustful of gossips and the rumours they tend to spread. The developers of Oxenfree took inspiration from River Phoenix's portrayal of Chris Chambers in "Stand By Me," so it's no wonder he's as stalwart and loyal a character as he is. He's a walking, talking homage to the damaged and misunderstood.
Jonas comes from a poor home in a town filled with unhappy farmers and bankers, a place he describes as enjoyable "If you like bars on the windows." It introduced him to petty theft (as implied by his mysterious knack for picking locks and the fact that he self-identifies as a "klepto") and assault, crimes that were more cries for attention than anything pre-meditated and that were catalyzed by the stress of coping with his mother's cancer. Having a tendency to withdraw and hoard his emotions until they become unmanageable, Jonas lashed out by hospitalizing a classmate who threw a baseball at his head and was sent away to do time at a juvenile detention centre. It was a misunderstanding he never forgave himself for and one he's allowed to define him, even after his mothers death, his father's remarriage, and their eventual move to Oregon where the events of Oxenfree take place.
It's kept him from socializing unless forced into it, thinking it better for everyone involved that he take relationships slow before making any serious commitments to them. This detached, cooler front he puts on is meant to act as a wall to keep others from seeing just how tender he truly is. At first bluff, he likes to be seen as the sarcastic guy who smokes, drinks, and gives people a hard time. He likes to crack dark, ill-timed jokes and offer dry remarks in a selfish bid to make himself feel more comfortable. Despite his willingness to get along with almost everyoneβoften feeling lonely, craving the attention and affection of friendsβhe's prone to passive-aggressiveness and pointing fingers. While quick to own up to mistakes he's undoubtably made, he's stubborn when confronted about them and can be an insufferable hothead in arguments.
He's typically the first to help and the last to cause trouble for both his family and friends, tabling his own worries to cater to others. That's why it's common to hear encouragements when Jonas is onscreen, if practical and fairβmost notably when things start to go South. He's the most levelheaded character apart from Alex herself and makes half of every tough decision she asks him to weigh in on. Unfortunately, their combined exploratory natures and his desire to fit in with the group are two parts of a whole reason why the events of the game escalated in the first place.
Experiencing a haunting has taken its toll on him so his willful personality's gotten weaker at his canon point. This is due to his constant exposure to paranormal events that have been orchestrated by the ghosts haunting Edward's Island, having been possessed by them several times. The trauma of these possessions have made it difficult to string full sentences together without ritual abuse of filler words, he's prone to stammering, and he lacks the energy he had at the beginning of their trip.
Abilities & Skills: Jonas is an ordinary human, so he has no special abilities; however, he has a knack for picking locks and is stronger than the average teenager.
Inventory/Companions: Cigarettes, a lighter, a dead cell phone, and his wallet.
Choice: Witch. Reason:
It's in Jonas' nature to take care of those closest to him and he's remarkably calm in grave situations; he'd make an excellent comrade for a Monster. Plus, it'll be funny to make him struggle where learning magic is concerned. He's a dumb-ass.
Sample:Text and action from the same thread. Any part of it works, honestly.
Jonas is an ordinary human, so he has no special abilities; however, he has a knack for picking locks and is stronger than the average teenager.
In what may become a necessary sidenote, Jonas is slow initially at realizing he's caught up in Oxenfree's time loops, but he becomes increasingly adept at it over time. Therefore, on entering the Netherworld, he will have all the experience and "sixth sense" necessary to be able to determine if small bubbles of events are repeating themselves.
β° SUITABILITY
Strengths:
TOLERANT. Jonas is remarkably calm in grave situations. Time loop after time loop, he shows an incredibly high capacity for bullshit, whether it comes from the mouths of his peers or the ghosts of Edwards Island. Even when everyone gives him hell, which they often do, Jonas offers only mild responses to bullying. Why he refuses to react to unfair treatment is in part due to his attempts to improve his circumstances and take responsibility for his actions. His tolerance may be subverted by Jonas' Shadow who will reflect his true nature: He knows how to control his anger, but there is a limit.
LOYAL. Jonas' nature is to nurture. He's often playing mediator, interjecting to change the subject or to shut those being "acting out" down. He'll have a hard time managing the personalities in the Netherworld, but it'll be interesting to see how an ordinary boy can make a difference in extraordinary people's lives. He's usually the first to ask someone "Are you alright?" and the last to tend to his own desires and worries. Jonas will even offer encouragement when things go south, however practical and fair, despite the pessimistic lens he views the world through.
BRAVE. Jonas, deuteragonist, makes half of every tough decision in Oxenfree. Translating this to Nightfell will be dangerous as it's a place in which he has very little deciding power; his philosophy is to let others lead until they need a stunt man to get a job done. Self-sacrificial, he tends to order people to "cut and run" before encountering danger (i.e. demanding he flip a switch that might electrocute him so his stepsister doesn't have to); on this, his Shadow might finally agree with him. His rash, curious nature will only feed into the above, as it usually lands him and those accompanying him in tight spots.
Weaknesses:
SKEPTICAL. Jonas has been hurt before. Now street-smart, he's distrustful of people because of bad experiences with "friends" and has become wary of meeting new people. Relationships are taken slowly before he makes any serious commitments to them or he considers them a lost causeβand not for lack of trying. Though he throws up a detached, cooler front to keep others from accessing his tender underbelly, he has a tendency to withdraw and hoard his emotions. It's his lack of trust not only in others but in himself that will help in Nightfell, a scrap of willpower he will wield against his Shadow.
UNCONFIDENT. Jonas' self-esteem has been impacted severely by growing up poor in a dangerous city, the peers who had a bad influence on him, and his family's issues. He's unable to admit to or put his trauma into words, so he tends to internalize it. This leads him to believe he is an inherently bad person who is not worth other people's timeβhowever, "fitting" as the Netherworld feels now, he will quickly come to realize that he is not nearly as bad as most others. But being in purgatory with the supernatural won't help his confidence. On top of his social hindrances, he finds it difficult to string full sentences together without ritual abuse of filler words. Jonas has a bad stammer and loses track of his thoughts often.
"BAD BOY." Jonas likes to be seen as a sarcastic guy who smokes, drinks, and gives people a hard time. Prone to dry remarks and pointing fingers, he can be stubborn when confronted about his own mistakes and is an insufferable hothead in arguments. His Shadow will have a field day with this, as it's his most vulnerable trait. He likes doing bad things when they don't hurt others. This is part of the reason he wound up in a juvenile detention centre, but not the only one; he has a mysterious knack for picking locks and self-identifies as a "klepto."
Fears:
LOSS. He is coping poorly with the death of his mother who'd been battling cancer. He is also noticeably upset when his stepsister is unresponsive or is put in danger.
ILLNESS. Jonas cannot stand watching someone fall ill and suffer from it. If someone he was close to was presenting serious symptoms, he would become distraught. He might close off entirely or treat others as a stand-in for his mother whose death he never got closure for.
DROWNING. After repeated possessions that made him feel as though he was "drowning in [his] own body," Jonas has developed a fear of it. If he were to be held underwater, he would respond with panic and aggression.
COPING METHODS. On encountering any fear above, his first instinct would be to use humour as a defence mechanism, and his most extreme reaction would be to rear up, raise his voice, and physically lash out. He can become very verbally cruel when frightened. With others, Jonas may selfishly shove his own problems away to focus obsessively on them instead. He also prays or reflects on scripture as he is religiousβa Methodist like his mother was.
Desires:
SAVE ALEX. If he must return to Edwards Island, it'll be to try to rescue his stepsister from The Sunken.
CONTACT HIS FATHER. Jonas wants to say his final goodbyes. He wants to tell his dad he loves him, to move on, and that he made his son's life a happy one.
SEE HIS MOTHER. If he can't go home, he'd like to Ascend to where she is.
Regrets:
ATTACKED A SCHOOLMATE. A schoolmate threw a baseball at his head and Jonas snapped. He sent him to the hospital, and he was arrested and consequently sent to a juvenile detention centre.
WASN'T ABLE TO HELP ALEX. His new stepsister took him to an island for an overnight party. Ghosts happened, and their repeated possessions took place, rendering him unable to continue. Alex was left behind.
DIDN'T TALK TO HIS MOTHER. Jonas didn't get the chance to square his mistakes away with her before she died. When the game presents him with a slim chance to speak with her, he becomes desperate and demanding.
Tethers:
RADIO PLAYING MOTHER'S SONG. She used to sing and play the ukulele with him, so it is both comforting and upsetting for him to hear. This is his most precious tether.
HIS FATHER'S CAR. The most time his family spent together was in his father's old car. He describes their trips as "containers" for memories of his mother, and the car would also represent his affection for his father.
HIS CELL PHONE. Holding a few pictures of his past, Jonas' cell phone has been extremely important to him. He used it to keep track of the events on Edwards Island and the flashlight came in handy, too. It won't turn on, but holograms of the camera's storage will play slowlyβlike a slideshow.
β° OPT-INS / OPT-OUTS
If you'd like your character to be subjected to the following options at any given time, please answer accordingly. Note that these might temporarily disrupt your established plans.
Harrowings: Yes.
Curses/Pranks: Yes.
Imprisonment: Yes.
Encounters: Yes.
Loss of control: Yes.
NOTE: N/A. I'm game for literally everything at any time. Very excited; lay it on me!
Character Name: Jonas Canon: Oxenfree II: Lost Signals Canon Point: Mid-game, trapped in a "void beyond time and space" Character Age: Chronologically 23, but mentally and physically 18 History:Linkie
Division:Research & Archives. Jonas hates burying himself in data and books, as he thinks he's stupid. While he does occasionally demonstrate that this is the case, his curiosity for the new and strange lends itself to very creative thinkingβapplying feeling to facts and supplementing raw intelligence with a shocking amount of common sense. Getting to research and archive alien species would be so novel to him that he would, at the very least, try to measure up to other scientists, even if he'll always believe he's doing a bad job at it. However, Jonas, as a hobbyist musician, has an art-oriented mind; he will gravitate to these aspects of history-keeping. Learning and/or preserving musical culture, the expression of religions, and how people communicate will be his core focuses. While he might not, at first, be the best record-keeper, his adventurous spirit will ultimately prevail, and he'll want to know moreβeven at great personal cost.
Edict:The Fathomless. Jonas travels the universe alone, just as his Edict dictates. His entire character is thematically driven by loss and the experience of being lost. A song in the game, linking him to his late mother, is titled Lost. His whole life has been spent directionless and drifting, making poor choices (crime, isolating himself, smoking, etc.) for himself instead of the ones his family tried to guide him towards. After his mother passed away from cancer, he lost what little power he had to make his own decisions. This led to a stint in juvenile detention and being swept off to a different city as the new stepchild to a family he'd never met. And after all that, he still got possessed by submarine ghosts called The Sunken and trapped by them in a time loop for what he perceives to be billions of years ("We never had our time, it was ripped from us. We've watched the universe's conception fly to its demise over and over and over again."). He is quite aptly "for the lost, and of the lost, seeking a way home."
Powers: N/A.
As the Ascendants deemed your character worthy of being on this exploration voyage, what qualities did they observe in your character that they found appropriate for the mission?
Loyalty. Curiosity. Mental fortitude. The Ascendants would notice these qualities in Jonas first. Because his life has so often felt out of his control, he sometimes stirs up trouble to feel like heβs holding the reins. He walks toward strange things instead of backing offβstepping into dark caves on Edwards Island, urging his stepsister, Alex, to tune into the dangerous radio signals put out by the Sunken, the ghosts of the crew from the destroyed submarine USS Kanaloa. That same curiosity is what gets him and the group into real danger. Jonas doesnβt shut things down when he gets nervousβhe leans in.
However, throughout the series, no matter how strained things get between him and Alex, he stays close to her. He tries to keep them steady as a unit, and he holds onto himself as best he can. The Ascendants would see this loyalty, this curiosityβand his ability to stubbornly keep moving even when the supernatural presses inβand know heβs right for their voyage. These traits demonstrate a grounded courage that persists even when he knows partway through the game that he's dying, proving Jonas can face uncertainty with enduring purpose.
What is your character's best quality, what is their worst, and how do these two qualities affect each other?
Loyal versus self-abnegation. Jonas' best quality is his devotion; the developers compare him in this regard to Joseph Gordon-Levitt in "Brick" and River Phoenix in "Stand By Me." Once he commits to any relationship, he anchors himself to it. He tries to be steady and dependable for his friends and family, the person who doesn't walk away when things get tense or dangerous.
But that same loyalty shades into self-denial, a habit of shrinking his own needs to keep the peace or to prove he's worth keeping around. He'll push aside his discomfort, ignore his doubts, and take on more than he should, all because he thinks saying yes and being supportive is the right thing to do, even if it makes him uncomfortable.
These two qualities affect each other in ways Jonas doesn't recognize. His loyalty encourages him to stay close, to help, to protectβbut his instinct toward self-erasure means he rarely checks in with himself to see how he's actually doing. He doesn't want to disappoint anyone, and that desire can twist his loyalty into something heavier, something that wears him down. Yet this combination also reveals why people can so easily come to trust him. His loyalty gives him heart, and his self-erasure, while unhealthy, comes from wanting to matter; he needs connection so badly that he'll give up parts of himself to pursue it.
Your character's Edict appears in front of them, and agrees to grant them one wish: what does your character wish for?
If the Fathomless appeared and offered Jonas one wish, he would wish to be with his motherβalive again, or just as dead, simply together this time. The only thing that could supersede this is his desire to contact his father to reassure him that he's okay, even if it's a lie, so he can help him move on. But instinctively, even that wouldn't take precedence over the instant gratification of being held by his mother again.
Jonas has made a similar wish before. At the end of Oxenfree, he hears her singing and feels as though he might be able to talk to her one more time. When Alex enables him to do so, he disappears and is trapped in the void with the others. Being with her would, unfortunately, mean closure, and that only fractionally beats out the prospect of living with his father again. Her memory has haunted him for what he has perceived to be billions of years.
There's obvious danger in his wish: If he were with his mother, he would lose everything else. Still, I believe as a knee-jerk reaction, he'd unwittingly risk it all for one moment beside her. One chance to be forgiven for all the worry he put her through. That'd literally be worth everything to Jonas.
The Theorem has broken down, and is drifting toward a black hole. There is very little hope of outside rescue. What does your character do?
Tell everyone how he feels about themβreally. Before the games' events, Jonas' mother was sick in the hospital. During this time, he was sent to juvenile detention for assaulting another schoolmate after they threw a baseball at his head. Due to the long process leading up to being incarcerated and his time therein contained, he was unable to visit her, so he was never able to square the assault away with her properly before she died. This is his biggest regret in life: Not being able to apologize, not knowing what she might've thought, or if she would've even forgiven him.
Additionally, he was unable to say goodbye or tell his mother that he loved her. Because of this, Jonas is terrified of never expressing his innermost feelings before they can become bad memories. This is further proven during the events of Oxenfree, when Jonas, realizing he and his stepsister, Alex, may not make it off the island, tries to tell her he thinks they might've had fun living together after high school. He does it to salvage the scenario, to perhaps reconnect with her. Unfortunately, he was prevented from ever doing so, which would have alleviated a desperate need to.
Now, being freed from the void in which he was trapped, Jonas has no limitations when it comes to expressing himself. He's equipped with an agonizing understanding of what can happen when he doesn't, so the game and its players can expect a lot more honesty from him. Getting to be alive again will also light a fire under his ass to experience more and live larger; back home, he was too focused on getting by that he put his happiness last, except in numerous instances of rebellion. Not anymore.
πππ, πππππππππ.
Name: Froot.
Age: Twenty-seven.
Contact:
Other Characters: N/A.
Character Information
Name: Jonas.
Canon: Oxenfree.
Canon Point: 6am, after Jonas listens to his mother's song recording and disappears.
Age: Eighteen.
History: Here.
Personality:Abilities & Skills: Jonas is an ordinary human, so he has no special abilities; however, he has a knack for picking locks and is stronger than the average teenager.
Inventory/Companions: Cigarettes, a lighter, a dead cell phone, and his wallet.
Choice: Witch.
Reason:Sample: Text and action from the same thread. Any part of it works, honestly.
πππ, πππππππππ.
Player Name: Froot.
Are you over 18? Yes.
Contact:
Characters in game: N/A.
β° BASICS
Character's name: Jonas.
Canon: Oxenfree.
Canon point: 6am, when Jonas listens to his mother's recording and disappears.
Age: Eighteen.
Background: Link.
Abilities:
β° SUITABILITY
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Fears:
Desires:
Regrets:
Tethers:
β° OPT-INS / OPT-OUTS
If you'd like your character to be subjected to the following options at any given time, please answer accordingly. Note that these might temporarily disrupt your established plans.
Harrowings: Yes.
Curses/Pranks: Yes.
Imprisonment: Yes.
Encounters: Yes.
Loss of control: Yes.
NOTE: N/A. I'm game for literally everything at any time. Very excited; lay it on me!
β° SAMPLES
TDM top level.
πππ, πππππππ
OOC
Name: Froot
Age: 33
Contact:
Invite Link: Thank you! π₯°
IC
Character Name: Jonas
Canon: Oxenfree II: Lost Signals
Canon Point: Mid-game, trapped in a "void beyond time and space"
Character Age: Chronologically 23, but mentally and physically 18
History: Linkie
Division: Research & Archives. Jonas hates burying himself in data and books, as he thinks he's stupid. While he does occasionally demonstrate that this is the case, his curiosity for the new and strange lends itself to very creative thinkingβapplying feeling to facts and supplementing raw intelligence with a shocking amount of common sense. Getting to research and archive alien species would be so novel to him that he would, at the very least, try to measure up to other scientists, even if he'll always believe he's doing a bad job at it. However, Jonas, as a hobbyist musician, has an art-oriented mind; he will gravitate to these aspects of history-keeping. Learning and/or preserving musical culture, the expression of religions, and how people communicate will be his core focuses. While he might not, at first, be the best record-keeper, his adventurous spirit will ultimately prevail, and he'll want to know moreβeven at great personal cost.
Edict: The Fathomless. Jonas travels the universe alone, just as his Edict dictates. His entire character is thematically driven by loss and the experience of being lost. A song in the game, linking him to his late mother, is titled Lost. His whole life has been spent directionless and drifting, making poor choices (crime, isolating himself, smoking, etc.) for himself instead of the ones his family tried to guide him towards. After his mother passed away from cancer, he lost what little power he had to make his own decisions. This led to a stint in juvenile detention and being swept off to a different city as the new stepchild to a family he'd never met. And after all that, he still got possessed by submarine ghosts called The Sunken and trapped by them in a time loop for what he perceives to be billions of years ("We never had our time, it was ripped from us. We've watched the universe's conception fly to its demise over and over and over again."). He is quite aptly "for the lost, and of the lost, seeking a way home."
Powers: N/A.
As the Ascendants deemed your character worthy of being on this exploration voyage, what qualities did they observe in your character that they found appropriate for the mission?
Loyalty. Curiosity. Mental fortitude. The Ascendants would notice these qualities in Jonas first. Because his life has so often felt out of his control, he sometimes stirs up trouble to feel like heβs holding the reins. He walks toward strange things instead of backing offβstepping into dark caves on Edwards Island, urging his stepsister, Alex, to tune into the dangerous radio signals put out by the Sunken, the ghosts of the crew from the destroyed submarine USS Kanaloa. That same curiosity is what gets him and the group into real danger. Jonas doesnβt shut things down when he gets nervousβhe leans in.
However, throughout the series, no matter how strained things get between him and Alex, he stays close to her. He tries to keep them steady as a unit, and he holds onto himself as best he can. The Ascendants would see this loyalty, this curiosityβand his ability to stubbornly keep moving even when the supernatural presses inβand know heβs right for their voyage. These traits demonstrate a grounded courage that persists even when he knows partway through the game that he's dying, proving Jonas can face uncertainty with enduring purpose.
What is your character's best quality, what is their worst, and how do these two qualities affect each other?
Loyal versus self-abnegation. Jonas' best quality is his devotion; the developers compare him in this regard to Joseph Gordon-Levitt in "Brick" and River Phoenix in "Stand By Me." Once he commits to any relationship, he anchors himself to it. He tries to be steady and dependable for his friends and family, the person who doesn't walk away when things get tense or dangerous.
But that same loyalty shades into self-denial, a habit of shrinking his own needs to keep the peace or to prove he's worth keeping around. He'll push aside his discomfort, ignore his doubts, and take on more than he should, all because he thinks saying yes and being supportive is the right thing to do, even if it makes him uncomfortable.
These two qualities affect each other in ways Jonas doesn't recognize. His loyalty encourages him to stay close, to help, to protectβbut his instinct toward self-erasure means he rarely checks in with himself to see how he's actually doing. He doesn't want to disappoint anyone, and that desire can twist his loyalty into something heavier, something that wears him down. Yet this combination also reveals why people can so easily come to trust him. His loyalty gives him heart, and his self-erasure, while unhealthy, comes from wanting to matter; he needs connection so badly that he'll give up parts of himself to pursue it.
Your character's Edict appears in front of them, and agrees to grant them one wish: what does your character wish for?
If the Fathomless appeared and offered Jonas one wish, he would wish to be with his motherβalive again, or just as dead, simply together this time. The only thing that could supersede this is his desire to contact his father to reassure him that he's okay, even if it's a lie, so he can help him move on. But instinctively, even that wouldn't take precedence over the instant gratification of being held by his mother again.
Jonas has made a similar wish before. At the end of Oxenfree, he hears her singing and feels as though he might be able to talk to her one more time. When Alex enables him to do so, he disappears and is trapped in the void with the others. Being with her would, unfortunately, mean closure, and that only fractionally beats out the prospect of living with his father again. Her memory has haunted him for what he has perceived to be billions of years.
There's obvious danger in his wish: If he were with his mother, he would lose everything else. Still, I believe as a knee-jerk reaction, he'd unwittingly risk it all for one moment beside her. One chance to be forgiven for all the worry he put her through. That'd literally be worth everything to Jonas.
The Theorem has broken down, and is drifting toward a black hole. There is very little hope of outside rescue. What does your character do?
Tell everyone how he feels about themβreally. Before the games' events, Jonas' mother was sick in the hospital. During this time, he was sent to juvenile detention for assaulting another schoolmate after they threw a baseball at his head. Due to the long process leading up to being incarcerated and his time therein contained, he was unable to visit her, so he was never able to square the assault away with her properly before she died. This is his biggest regret in life: Not being able to apologize, not knowing what she might've thought, or if she would've even forgiven him.
Additionally, he was unable to say goodbye or tell his mother that he loved her. Because of this, Jonas is terrified of never expressing his innermost feelings before they can become bad memories. This is further proven during the events of Oxenfree, when Jonas, realizing he and his stepsister, Alex, may not make it off the island, tries to tell her he thinks they might've had fun living together after high school. He does it to salvage the scenario, to perhaps reconnect with her. Unfortunately, he was prevented from ever doing so, which would have alleviated a desperate need to.
Now, being freed from the void in which he was trapped, Jonas has no limitations when it comes to expressing himself. He's equipped with an agonizing understanding of what can happen when he doesn't, so the game and its players can expect a lot more honesty from him. Getting to be alive again will also light a fire under his ass to experience more and live larger; back home, he was too focused on getting by that he put his happiness last, except in numerous instances of rebellion. Not anymore.
Writing Samples: TDM Link